Field School Week 2

The Archaeology Field School had off Monday for Memorial Day so excavation resumed on Tuesday. It was very hot so tents were put up to keep the units from drying out to quickly. Shovel test were conducted at the prize house and a possible foundation was discovered. Brick was uncovered in unit 7 that may relate to a walkway uncovered during last year’s field school.The heat continued into Wednesday and the tents were again set up. An electrical wire was found running in Unit 7 which halted excavation since it was unsure if it was live or not. Gravel and brick were uncovered in Unit 8 which suggests a more modern pathway existed there at one point.The field school went to D.C. on Thursday to visit the Smithsonian Natural History museum and the American Indian museum. The Natural History museum had two exhibits that were of interest to the field school. The first exhibit was titled “Written in Bone” and was about skeletal remains found in the Chesapeake Bay area during the 17th century. The second was the Hall of Human Origin which dealt with human family tree and how early humans lived in their environment. The second Museum visited was the American Indian museum. Here we ate a meal consisting of traditional Native American foods. Afterwards we visited the many exhibits that the museum had.On Friday, the field school returned to the site with a much cooler temperature than earlier in the week. Shovel test were continued at the prize house in hopes of uncovering more of the possible foundation that was discovered on Tuesday however it was not found. Units 7 and 9 are temporarily being closed and two new units are being opened. Unit 11 is being opened next to unit 6 while unit 10 is being opened to run between units 4 and 8. These two new units are being opened in a hope of finding where the foundation wall in unit 4 goes.— Chris Menke ‘14